


But It Works For Us

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Foxtrot [23]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, The Dollhouse - Fandom
Genre: Crossover, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-29
Updated: 2016-01-29
Packaged: 2018-05-26 13:59:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6242176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the <a class="i-ljuser-profile" href="http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/profile"><img class="i-ljuser-userhead"/></a><a class="i-ljuser-username" href="http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/">comment_fic</a> prompt: "It's not normal but it works for us." Set years post SGA, post declassification of the Stargate and Dollhouse programs. Jeannie Miller comes to visit her brother at his new home. Neither it nor the people there are what she expected. Jeannie's POV.</p>
            </blockquote>





	But It Works For Us

Jeannie wasn't sure what she expected of Rodney's new house. He'd bought it once he'd officially retired from what he called 'active duty' after handing off Atlantis to the newest generation of SGC/IOA/Homeworld Sec scientists, which was the respectable, normal, adult thing to do. Jeannie remembered the shabby apartment he'd kept in Toronto and expected something like it, even though she hoped for something better. The mansion on the rural outskirts of Colorado Springs was an option she hadn't even considered. When she, Caleb, and Madison came to the driveway and couldn't even see the house beyond the wrought iron gate and stand of trees, she thought her GPS had led her wrong, but she reached out and pressed the button on the intercom anyway, because maybe the neighbors knew where her brother lived.

But after the intercom crackled with static, it was Rodney who said, "Great! You made it!"

The gates swung open, and Jeannie noted the security cameras at the tops of the gateposts, and then they rolled onto the estate. And it was an estate, with massive, sweeping gardens that must have required an army of gardeners to maintain, and then the house itself was huge. Three stories, big enough to be a hotel.

Thankfully it was Rodney and not a butler who answered the door. In fact, Rodney wore jeans and a t-shirt, as casual as Jeannie remembered, so maybe moving into this place hadn't turned her brother into some kind of crazy snob. She wondered how much he'd been paid to take a one-way trip to another galaxy. Apparently it was a lot.

"So glad you made it safely," Rodney said. He pulled Jeannie into a hug, shook hands with Caleb, and even knelt down to hug Madison. Jeannie noticed he was barefoot and asked if they needed to remove their shoes, but Rodney said no, it was fine.

"This is like a castle!" Madison exclaimed.

For such an austere-looking house, the inside had an open floor-plan and mostly modern decor. Some of the artifacts on the wall might not have been amiss in a museum. Jeannie couldn't quite place the culture a particular mask was from, and then she realized - it was probably alien.

"A man's home is his castle," Rodney said grandly. "C'mon. I'll give you the nickel tour."

The sitting room had sprawling couches, a massive television screen mounted on one wall, and enough DVDs and gaming consoles to supply an entire frat house. The kitchen was large and well-appointed, which was strange, because Rodney could barely make ramen for himself.

"Do you cook a lot, now that you're semi-retired?" Caleb asked.

Rodney snorted. "No. I'm still an awful cook. But John likes to cook, and Evan is actually a pretty good baker. Apparently his grandmother was a professional pastry chef? If John didn't make us all run every morning, we'd be getting fat."

Jeannie blinked. John? Sheppard, she realized. He lived here too? In a house this size there was more than ample room, but wasn't Rodney dating Jennifer still? And who was Evan?

"In fact, John promised to cook tonight, so we're all in for a treat." Rodney directed them to leave their luggage at the foot of the stairs and showed them around the first floor.

"Evan and John insist on having their bedrooms on the first floor. Easy ex-fil or something equally military and paranoid. Whatever. Jennifer and I are up on the second floor. More privacy that way."

Jeannie followed her brother down the plushly carpeted hallway. John's door was open, and his room was military-neat. There was a guitar in one corner, a copy of _War and Peace_ open face-down on the nightstand, and also what looked like a ball of yarn and a pair of knitting needles beside it. Evan's door was closed.

"We keep offices down here, though," Rodney said. "Well, office might be a bit of a domestic term for what some of us get up to."

Rodney's office had two desks facing away from each other, both appointed with computers and multiple screens. Instead of whiteboards there were glass panels mounted all over the walls, and they were covered in mathematical formulas. When Jeannie peered closely at them, she could see some of them had been written by someone other than Rodney. Both desks were also littered with folders stamped with the SGC logo, and Jeannie didn't look too closely at those.

"John and I share this office." Rodney jammed his hands into his pockets and looked pleased.

Caleb raised his eyebrows. "You and John can stand each other that long?"

"We were trapped on an alien city together for five years and managed not to kill each other," Rodney said. "A couple of hours here and there won't be the death of us. Besides, sometimes he chooses to be useful."

And Jeannie realized. "He helps you with math?"

"Well, not John exactly," Rodney said, and Jeannie remembered, from all of the televised senate hearings. The Dollhouse. Imprints. John Sheppard wasn't just John Sheppard. He was a bunch of people crammed into one body, and one of them was good enough at math that Rodney shared an office with him.

The last time she'd seen John, at some kind of celebratory dinner in Washington, he'd looked like his usual self, although a bit more dressed up in his class-A blues and with a proper military haircut, and when he'd greeted her, he'd been the John Sheppard she'd always known.

"Jennifer's office is just next to ours, but she's a lot more diligent about security. HIPAA and all that." Rodney gestured to a locked door, breezed past it, and pushed open the next door.

Evan's office had a desk shoved into the corner that looked barely used, which made sense, because his office was mostly an art studio. There was a drop cloth spread over most of the floor and several easels bearing canvases with paintings in various stages of completion. Mounted on the walls were paintings of the night sky, of Atlantis and an alien planet at either sunrise or sunset; Jeannie couldn't quite tell which. But the paintings were beautiful. Evan was talented.

And then she realized. Evan was Major Lorne, who Rodney had once mentioned, in a huff of annoyance, as an artist playing at soldier. She hadn't thought Rodney liked the man all that much, and yet they were living together?

But Madison was in awe at all of the paintings - and the paint available. Caleb was careful to keep her from touching anything.

Madison tugged on Rodney's arm. "Do you think Uncle Evan will paint with me?"

"Maybe, if you ask nicely," Rodney said, though he looked uncertain.

The adults collected the luggage and headed up to the second floor where Rodney and Jennifer had the master bedroom, which Jennifer had clearly most of a hand in decorating, although Rodney's favorite books were scattered across every available flat surface, and there was a laptop on the night stand on his side of the bed. The second floor also housed a dance studio, which Madison was excited about, because she was taking ballet.

"Which of you dances?" Jeannie asked.

Rodney's expression turned a little shifty. "Well, one of John's imprints, Traci, actually. She's a dancer."

Caleb looked confused.

"Also the men use the space for, you know, sparring and stuff, if Ronon comes to visit. It's a good work-out space. I can do push-ups now," Rodney added.

Beside the dance studio was a library, filled wall-to-wall with books - physics, math, art, medicine, history, languages, law - and comfy chairs and couches on which to read, and a grand piano in one corner.

Jeannie smiled when she saw it. "I didn't know you still played. Didn't think you'd have time out there in the Pegasus Galaxy."

"Actually, the city archivist had a lot of easily portable musical instruments for common use on designated Sundays, including a little electric keyboard," Rodney said.

"How often did you even use it?"

"Not that often." Rodney flapped a hand dismissively. "Besides, the piano is more for John than me."

John again. Had the entire house been built for John?

Rodney didn't show them the third floor, which he said was guest rooms for less intimate guests, but family had guest rooms on the second floor. One room was big enough for a family, for when Teyla, Kanaan, and Torren came to visit. The other guest room was for a single person, and judging by the sparse, masculine decor, Jeannie guessed it generally belonged to Ronon.

"There are intercoms on the walls if you get lost, which plenty of people do at first," Rodney said. "But feel free to settle in. I left clean towels in the en-suite. Dinner will be in a few hours. I'll be down in my office if you need me."

Jeannie helped Caleb and Madison unpack, the motions familiar and calming. They were staying for two weeks as part of Madison's summer vacation, because ever since the Stargate program went public - and with it, the downfall of the Dollhouse and Rossum - she'd barely seen her brother for more than a day here or there (she'd seen him more often on television than in person), and she wanted some family time. When Rodney had offered to take two weeks off of work and spend time with them, invited them down to his place, she'd said yes.

It hadn't occurred to her that Rodney lived with anyone but Jennifer, or that he lived in so massive a place, and what was the third floor for? Jeannie thought she’d really reconnected with her brother since he’d come back to Earth, but it seemed they had drifted even farther apart.

Caleb offered to wrangle Madison for a post-travel bath, so Jeannie headed downstairs. The entire house was beautiful - lush carpet, solid wood furnishings, elegantly-carved banisters, subtle and gentle lighting. She'd never imagined Rodney would live in a place like this, not after the rat-hole of an apartment she'd seen him in before.

Rodney was in his lab, standing in front of one of the glass panels and writing insulting criticism on a section of John's math.

"Quite a place you've got here," Jeannie said.

"Thanks." Half of Rodney's insults looked like they were in alien languages, but John probably knew them anyway.

"So you live with Sheppard, Major Lorne, and Jennifer?"

"Well, we all live in the same house, but as you saw, I only share my room and bed with Jennifer."

"What's up with the third floor?"

"Jennifer retired from the SGC game altogether," Rodney said. "Now she works with a psychologist and psychiatrist and together they treat former actives from the Dollhouse program. They stay with us, sometimes, on the third floor."

"Oh. Does she - does she do that because of John?"

"No. He and some of the others are special cases, can manage their multiple imprints well," Rodney said. "I think it's an ATA gene thing, really, but no one has confirmed it yet. But others don't do so well, once they learn what their bodies were used for."

Jeannie couldn't even imagine what that was like. "Does it get - crowded? With so many independent adults in one place?"

Rodney turned to her. "I know what you're thinking."

Jeannie bit her lip. She wasn't trying to be judgmental. She didn't know what being on an alien city star-ship for five years did to people and how they related to each other.

"It's not normal," Rodney admitted, "but it works for us."

Before Jeannie could respond with a protest about how normal was a relative term, the front door opened, and keys jangled, landed in the bowl on the entry table.

"Honey, I'm home!" It was John.

"Every time you do that, you imply Rodney's your honey, and it's a little awkward." The other man's voice wasn't immediately familiar, but Jeannie guessed it was Evan.

John strolled into the kitchen, wearing jeans and a t-shirt and a familiar cocky grin. Evan trailed behind him burdened down with recyclable grocery bags, which he set on the counter and began unloading.

"Jeannie!" John swept her into a hug, and that was new. "Glad you made it. Give us a couple of hours to get dinner going, and then we can catch up over food. I promise a significant portion will be vegetarian, for Caleb."

Jeannie hugged him back, because she saw how pleased Rodney looked when John hugged her. "Good to see you too, John."

Evan paused in unloading groceries and offered a hand. "Welcome to our home, Mrs. Miller."

"Please, call me Jeannie." She shook his hand. "By the way, Madison has already declared you Uncle Evan in the hopes that you'll paint with her."

Evan grinned, and how had Jeannie never noticed him on Atlantis before? He had incredible blue eyes. "I have nieces and nephews about her age. I'd be glad to paint with her."

John took up Evan's grocery unloading duties without missing a beat.

"Welcome to our home," Evan said, and then he went to help John.

Jennifer was the last to return home, and Rodney was waiting for her with a kiss and a mug of hot cocoa - no coffee after five was her rule - when she stepped into the kitchen. Jeannie stayed in the kitchen, helping Evan chop and mix things for John, asking John about the math he was working on with Rodney, asking Evan about his paintings and his recent promotion - full bird colonel now, like John, only a few years after him.

At the dinner table, conversation flowed freely. Evan was great with Madison, asking her about school and dance and what she would like to paint. He listened attentively and answered her questions in an age-appropriate fashion. He must have had some prior experience with children after all. Caleb was very surprised that John was the one who engaged with him, asking questions about his newest novel. Before Caleb knew what was what, he was answering questions about themes, character development, and leitmotifs. Jeannie cast a questioning look at Rodney, because John had never been the literary type, and she was curious, but he was asking Jennifer something complicated about a neural net interfacing with an Ancient control chair.

After supper, Rodney and Jennifer did the dishes - inside one of the cupboard drawers was a chore chart, which Evan had drawn up - while everyone else had the opportunity to relax.

"Atlantis is in the distant past and he still acts like XO," John joked.

Evan smiled serenely in response to the gentle teasing and asked Jeannie if she or Caleb would like some after-dinner coffee. They both declined.

"I don't know how tired you are after traveling," he said. "We have video games, movies, and of course there's always fun to be had in the library. We probably have some puzzles and board games and card games for Madison."

Madison tugged on Evan's sleeve. "Can we paint?"

Evan raised his eyebrows at Jeannie, who said, "If you promise not to get too messy."

Madison cheered.

Evan smiled fondly. "I have an old t-shirt she can wear to protect her clothes. I'll make sure we use a medium that doesn't stain too badly."

Madison's eyes lit up. "Daddy, you should tell me a bedtime story, and Uncle Evan can draw it as we go!" It was a game Madison had played many times before, but usually Jeannie tried to fumble through the illustrations while Caleb talked as slowly as possible.

Caleb kissed Jeannie on the cheek. "Go. Catch up with your brother. I got this."

"Thanks," Jeannie said, and she watched Evan lead her husband and daughter up the stairs. Then she turned and stood in the kitchen doorway, watching Rodney and Jennifer maneuver around each other with the casual ease of long-time lovers. John sat at the kitchen table, sorting the mail. The domesticity of it all was something Jeannie had never been able to imagine for her brother, because as much as she loved him, she'd grown up with his arrogance, his stubbornness, and his quirkiness, and she'd seen so many people fail at connecting with him that she'd despaired of anyone ever doing so.

And here he had built a family of his own. Jeannie didn't quite understand it, but she was willing to try. So she sat down at the kitchen table beside John.

"Need a hand?"

"I'm the only one who ever checks the mailbox," he said, "so things tend to pile up. Being able to pay online certainly helps, but some things still come in paper form." He gave her half of the stack. "We have six piles - me, Rodney, Jennifer, Evan, Joe, and junk."

Jeannie nodded, starting to sort the mail, and then she paused. "Joe? I haven't met Joe."

"Joe is my primary personality," John said. He gestured to himself absently. "This body is his. I offered him his own body, his own life back - we still have the cloning technology Ba'al used - but he likes living with the other imprints at this point. He solved a Millenium problem a while back, though, and so he kinda has his own thing going on every now and again."

Jeannie swallowed. Joe. Primary personality. Right. John Sheppard as she knew him wasn't quite real, and the face she'd always known, the confident stride - those belonged to someone else. "So Joe's the one who helps Mer with his math?"

"Yeah," John said. He squinted at the faded printed address on one envelope before adding it to Evan's pile. "But sometimes I help Rodney with his physics."

"You?" Jeannie winced at the incredulity in her own voice, but John just smirked.

"Yeah, back in the day he let Rossum scan him in exchange for them funding a project, and they used the scan to build a physicist which they then imprinted me with when Rodney turned down a job with a corporation that wanted his genius," John said. "Sometimes it's a bad thing, though, two of Rodney working on one problem. We have the same blind spots."

"Sorry," Jeannie said. "I just - I heard all about it on the news, about Rossum, but I never –"

"Never really thought about the daily grind for a former active," John said. "I bet that's how most people thought of Atlantis, while you had insider knowledge."

"True," Jeannie said.

"We have a good system here," John said quietly. "I know it's really weird, two single guys living with an almost-married couple, but we're a family."

"Madison is overjoyed to have more aunts and uncles." Jeannie smiled. "Um, what about your family? The Sheppards."

"Well, things got a little messy with the inquiry into Rossum. Kathy divorced Dave right before he got sent to jail. I write Dave, sometimes. Call him. Kathy feels pretty bad for me, I guess, so I have an okay relationship with my nieces." John finished sorting his half of the mail and absently scooped up some of Jeannie's pile. He maneuvered the envelopes with the dexterity of a professional blackjack dealer. "I keep in regular contact with Joe's mom. Well, Joe does. She comes to visit sometimes. She's close to retiring. She's thinking of moving out here when she does."

"That's nice," Jeannie said. "So, are you seeing anybody?"

John's hands faltered for a moment, but he kept sorting the envelopes smoothly. "Not really, no. Most people can't deal with the whole imprint thing. Sierra and Victor - Priya and Anthony - actually fell in love in the Dollhouse, so it works for them. And Echo and Paul, well, when Paul got fried in the attic, they rewired his brain and made him an active and imprinted him with himself, but in the process something was lost, so he's basically...aromantic. But he and Echo have some kind of thing going." He took a deep breath. "As for me, well, I tried a couple of times, but it never really worked out. Turns out not even ascended, all-knowing women can deal with the imprint thing."

"Do any of your imprints want to see anybody?" Jeannie asked. She clapped a hand over her mouth. "I'm so sorry! That's terribly personal."

"The ones who weren't programmed for romantic engagements are pretty indifferent. The ones who were programmed for romantic engagements were pretty much attached to the people who'd paid for them. One of my imprints, Traci, is friends with Victor's imprint Kiki - also Echo's imprint Kiki, which is kind of weird - and when they come to down we go dancing. But." John shrugged. "We have an agreement. No pulling a Cadman."

Jeannie blinked. "Pulling a Cadman?"

"Rodney never told you?"

"Told me what?"

"About the time he was basically imprinted with Laura Cadman, one of our marines, after a mix-up in a Wraith dart," John said. "I guess Rodney fell asleep and Cadman took over his body. It was pretty unpleasant for Rodney when he woke up. Cadman liked to work out."

Jeannie wrinkled her nose. "Mer hates exercise."

"He's pretty good about it these days." John leaned in and grinned. "The worst part for Rodney was that Cadman had a crush on Carson Beckett, the chief medical officer. She planted a pretty big one on him right before we tried to fix them."

"While she was still in Rodney's body?"

"Yeah. It was pretty funny at the time, except not really, not to me, you know?"

"Maybe Rodney just has a thing for chief medical officers," Jeannie said diplomatically.

At the kitchen sink, Rodney pulled back from kissing Jennifer. "Are you gossiping about me?"

"Not at all." John stood up. "Mail's sorted. Want me to take your pile to your office?"

"Please," Rodney said. "And stop telling my sister lies about me."

"They're not lies," John said. He winked at Jeannie, scooped up the piles of mail, and vanished from the kitchen.

"So, what are your plans while you're in town?" Jennifer asked.

"Rodney promised us an exclusive tour of the SGC," Jeannie said. "Maybe also a museum, Garden of the Gods. Also just hanging out and catching up."

"Sounds like fun." Jennifer smiled. "You should see if you can't convince John to take Madison horse-riding. There's a stable nearby. He's been riding horses since he was six. He's also played golf since he was six. Does Caleb like to play golf?"

"He's always wanted to try," Jeannie said.

Rodney finished loading the dishwasher while Jennifer wiped down the sink.

"Usually after dinner we either watch a movie or hang out in the library and read till we're sleepy," he said. "Which would you prefer?"

"Well, Caleb and Madison are painting with Evan, but it's Madison's bedtime soon, so I'd better help put her down for the night." Jeannie started to say more and was startled by a yawn. "Hm. I don't know if I have the energy to focus on a book. How about a movie? Maybe one Caleb and I have already seen in case we fall asleep in the middle of it."

"We missed out on five years of TV and movies while we were on Atlantis unless the Archivist could bootleg the new stuff for us," Jennifer said, "so we're still trying to catch up. We always got the newest blockbusters, but anyone who had niche taste in films or TV shows was pretty much hosed."

"Evan likes foreign art films." Rodney rolled his eyes.

"What I'm getting at is you've probably seen everything on our watch list." Jennifer smiled.

"Great! I'll run and help Caleb get Madison to bed, and then we can watch a movie." Jeannie headed up the stairs toward the guest bedroom. Madison was already tucked into bed. Caleb sat on one side of her and was in the middle of describing an epic battle between space vampires and space soldiers while Evan sat on the other side of her with a sketch pad open on one knee and a paintbrush in hand. While Caleb talked, Evan painted, and when Caleb paused, Evan turned the sketch pad for Madison to see. She cheered and clapped.

"Daddy, what happens next?"

"You'll have to find out tomorrow night, sweetheart," Caleb said. He kissed her on the cheek. "What do you say to Uncle Evan?"

Madison beamed up at him. "Thanks, Uncle Evan! You paint way better than Mommy."

Evan winced, but he smiled diplomatically. "I've probably had way more practice than your mom is all. I'll leave this here for you to look at in the morning if you want, and tomorrow night we can finish the story, all right?"

"All right." Madison presented her cheek for a kiss, which Evan bestowed upon her graciously, and then Madison noticed Jeannie. There was another round of hugs and kisses, and Jeannie admired Evan's quick paintings - he was very talented indeed - before Madison was content to let them turn off the light so she could go to sleep.

Out in the hallway, Evan heaved a sigh of relief. "Wow, I don't know how you do that. Keeping up with her is tough."

"Just takes experience," Caleb said. "Thanks for playing along. I know she can be a little demanding."

Evan smiled wryly. "She is related to Rodney. But she's a cute kid."

Caleb clapped him on the arm. "Couldn't have done it without you. I don't know how you paint so quick!"

"Used to do caricatures and quick portraits and miniatures for money when I was a kid," Evan said. "I missed doing it, so I'm glad I had the chance."

"Well, you'll probably have the chance every night we're here," Caleb warned him. He kissed Jeannie briefly. "What's the plan?"

"Movie," she said. "Apparently they're trying to catch up on all the movies they missed while they were in another galaxy."

Caleb whistled. "That's quite the task. I think a movie's about all I have energy for anyway."

They followed Evan back down to the den. Jennifer and Rodney were curled up on a love seat together while John perused the DVD collection.

"Got anything in mind?" Evan asked.

" _RENT_ , actually," John said. "Traci's favorite musical. Apparently they got most of the original Broadway cast to do the movie."

Rodney made a face at the mention of a musical, but Jennifer nodded. "I heard it was good," she said. "Evan?"

"Caleb and Jeannie are our guests," Evan said.

Jeannie glanced at Caleb, who was not well known for his love of musicals.

"I heard it's an adaptation of _La Boheme_ ," he said, and he did like opera. "I'm game."

Jeannie grinned. "Great! _RENT_ it is." She tugged Caleb toward one of the couches where they could both sprawl out and tangle together and fall asleep if it came to that. She was absurdly pleased at how cute Jennifer and Rodney looked, cuddled together on the love seat. John turned on the TV and fired up the DVD player, and then he sprawled on the other sofa beside Evan, who sat with his legs curled under him like he was meditating. John insisted on retaining control of the remotes, which no one else protested. During the commercials there was a brief discussion about whether popcorn was necessary. John informed Jeannie and Jennifer that they might need a box of tissues.

"Like you won't need one too," Rodney said.

"Hey," John protested, "if I start crying, it's probably not me, it's Traci."

Rodney snorted. "Right. Blame everything on the transgender girl."

"You have to admit," Evan said, "Julian cries really easily when no one's looking."

"Yeah, well, I know all of you will be looking." John rolled his eyes and settled back on the couch, and the ribbing died down when the film began.

Jeannie drifted in and out of sleep pretty early on in the film, awakened whenever dialogue transitioned into singing. Jennifer was curled close to Rodney, her head resting on his shoulder. He had an arm around her, comfortable and intimate, like they'd done this a thousand times before. The gesture was unconsciously affectionate, because despite his earlier protests, Rodney was riveted to the movie. Evan was still sitting like a serene yogi, but John wasn't sprawled as casually as before. His posture was more closed, hugging his knees to his chest, but he was sitting closer to Evan than before. Every time Jeannie awoke, John was sitting a little closer to Evan, but then the gentle sweep of Caleb's hand on her back made her drowsy again. Halfway through the movie, John was sitting right beside Evan, and Evan was scratching his head, like he would a cat, and John - John was perfectly still, head tipped back, eyes closed, but the faint curve of his lips was content, pleased.

Caleb shook Jeannie awake when the overhead lights came on. Jennifer was shutting down the DVD player and television while Evan straightened the cushions on all of the couches that had been occupied.

"C'mon sleepyhead," Caleb murmured. Jeannie let him pull her to her feet and start guiding her toward the door.

"Good night Joe, Traci," Evan said softly, and John nodded absently. He padded over to Rodney and leaned in, whispered.

Jennifer pressed a kiss to Rodney's cheek and told him she'd meet him upstairs.

Evan headed for his room, ruffling John's hair as he passed.

John barely acknowledged the gesture, whispering intently to Rodney, who whispered back. Then Rodney leaned in, pressed their foreheads together in what Jeannie knew was an alien greeting learned from Teyla but was still so strange to see from her brother and from John, the epitome of the laid-back surfer boy turned soldier, and John's eyes fluttered closed.

Then he straightened up, stretched, and he complained about how the couch was too short for him and Evan both, and they really needed a bigger couch, and he was the John Jeannie knew best.

Caleb tugged on her wrist. "You're falling asleep on your feet. Let's go."

Jeannie nodded and trailed along after him, her mind spinning. She really didn't understand what was happening in her brother's new family, and she wondered if Rodney, so desperate to keep and hold onto the only friends he'd ever really had, was holding himself back in his relationship with Jennifer.

But Jeannie was really too tired for deep thoughts, and she was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

She awoke a few hours later, unsettled by her strange surroundings. She went to check on Madison, as she always did when she woke in the middle of the night, but Madison was sleeping soundly. She was about to head back to bed when she heard voices from the kitchen.

She crept down the stairs, and Rodney and Evan were at the kitchen table, steaming mugs of tea between them.

"Are we crazy?" Rodney asked. "Living like this? Wait, why am I asking you? You grew up on a hippie commune."

"It is an unconventional arrangement, even to the guy who grew up on a hippie commune," Evan said. "I did grow up expecting one day to have a life partner of some variety and a couple of kids. If everyone I dated hadn't kept dumping me every time I got stuck offworld in an Unas-related emergency, I might never have shipped out to Atlantis."

"I love John," Rodney said.

Evan nodded.

Jeannie froze. Obviously this was a very personal conversation. She ought to go to bed and pretend this never happened. She started to turn away.

Rodney sighed. "I just don't love him the way I'm pretty sure he loves me."

Jeannie came up short.

"John knows that," Evan said.

Jeannie crept back to the door and peered through the crack between the door and the frame. They wouldn't be able to see her unless they stood up and approached the door head on.

Rodney frowned and sipped at some of his tea. "Is Joe in love with you?"

Evan shook his head. "No. We're friends."

"Touchy-freely friends."

"Joe spent two decades trapped inside his own body, a spectator. He's a little touch-starved. We have an admittedly non-traditional but perfectly asexual arrangement," Evan said archly.

"Does he tell you stuff? About...about how John feels?"

"No. They have rules about that kind of thing. That's tantamount to pulling a Cadman."

"Am I hurting John, every time I whisper to him, touch foreheads with him?"

"You'd have to ask John."

Rodney's expression was miserable. "He'd never tell me. He knows I'm happy with Jennifer, and he wants me to be happy."

"Then quit second-guessing your happiness with Jennifer and keep on living." Evan gestured with his mug for emphasis and spilled some tea on his own hand, swore.

Rodney laughed.

Evan glared at him, but it was halfhearted. "Shut up. It's late. I'm tired." He groped for some napkins and mopped up the mess.

Rodney turned somber once more. "I'm pretty sure Jennifer would be happier in a place of her own, but I hate the thought of John rattling around this place all on his own, him and just his imprints."

Jeannie's heart ached. She'd never heard Rodney sound this concerned about anyone before. Given the infrequency of their conversations over the past decade, that wasn't so surprising, but he sounded like he was hurting, and she hated that.

"John's an adult," Evan pointed out, "and he spent four years on Atlantis keeping his condition to himself and managing to be military commander, team leader, and primary initiator all at once. You're selling him short if you think he couldn't handle this on his own. Although I certainly have no plans to move out. I'd never be able to afford a kitchen like this one, plus an art studio, and the rockin' entertainment system."

"Would you move out if you met someone?" Rodney asked.

Evan shrugged.

"Not that you're really making an effort to meet anyone," Rodney added. Then he narrowed his eyes. "Why aren't you dating?"

Jeannie winced. She knew that expression. That was the expression he'd worn the first time he suspected her of having a boyfriend.

Evan raised his eyebrows. "Are you kidding? Even if I'm not on a gate team anymore, it's obvious to just about anyone with eyes that Landry wants me to take over for Mitchell once he retires. Being 2IC under the mountain is more than a full-time job, and no one would put up with it."

"You're not 2IC yet."

"Close enough, with how often Mitchell manages to come up with an excuse to go through the gate. How he's ever going to sit still behind Landry's desk is a mystery to me."

"O'Neill didn't manage it very well. Maybe it's why he went to Washington. What you don't know won't hurt you and all that." Rodney sipped his tea in contemplative silence.

Evan did the same, though he paused to peer at his burnt hand and prod the wound, see how bad it was. He decided it didn't need further attention and reached for the tea pot on the table between them.

And then the light of eureka sparked in Rodney's eyes. "Holy crap! You're in love with Joe!"

Evan sighed. "Go to bed, Rodney."

"How could I not see this before? You must have been in love with John all along, and then one night he shows up at your door, only he's Joe, and –"

Evan glanced at his watch. "Really, Rodney. It's your bedtime now."

Rodney actually stood up, still carrying his mug. "I'm right, aren't I? That's why you refuse to talk to me."

"Actually," Evan said, "you need to go to bed so John can come in here and angst at me about whether he's holding you and Jennifer back, and after he goes to bed Jennifer will come downstairs and fret about how she doesn't want to come between you and John and living with John is invaluable for her work with the other former actives, but are we all enabling John's inability to function in normal society by staying with him?"

Rodney blinked. "What?"

"Bed. Go!"

Jeannie backed away from the door and ducked into the nearest empty room right before Rodney shuffled past her, clutching his mug of tea and muttering to himself.

As soon as he was out of sight, Jeannie sighed in relief.

John said, "He always takes forever and I'm stuck here waiting my turn."

Jeannie screamed.

Evan appeared in the hallway, gun in hand. "Who's there?"

"Jeannie wants to talk to you tonight, Evan." John smiled gently and ushered Jeannie toward the kitchen. Her heart was still beating too fast. "I'll talk to you tomorrow night."

Evan blinked, confused, but then he lowered his gun. "Oh. Right. Okay. Jeannie, want some tea?"

The first thing Evan did was put the gun away. He was very apologetic about scaring her while he poured her some tea - two sugars, a slice of lemon, Rodney must have told him how she liked it - and guided her to sit where her brother had been sitting moments before.

After a few sips, Jeannie's heart rate started to return to normal. Evan brought a jar of home-baked cookies to the table and nudged it toward her.

"Lemon-free, just for Rodney," he said.

Jeannie nodded. Of course. Evan was incredibly thoughtful. The cookies were delicious, and she told him so. He accepted the compliment gracefully.

Finally, when she was sure she was calm, Jeannie asked, "Is my brother happy here?"

"Yes, I think so."

"And Jennifer?"

"In her own way."

"And John?"

"As much as he can be, yes."

"And you?"

"There's nowhere else I'd rather be."

"How does it work?"

"You're here for a couple of weeks. Watch and see."

Jeannie nodded. She would do that, for her brother and everyone he loved. She suspected, at the end of two weeks, she would love them too.


End file.
